Course Descriptions

All GMAP students enroll in the same eight core courses at the same time throughout their year of study. Additionally, students write a master’s thesis. For those whose native tongue is English, they must pass an oral and reading language exam in the language of their choice prior to graduating from The Fletcher School.

GMA D210 & D211: Leadership and Management

This course is divided into two modules:

GMA D210: Leading and Managing Strategically: This module explores the global strategic and managerial challenges that decision-makers increasingly face in both public and private sectors. It attempts to reconcile their evolving role and competency requirements with the new global business imperative. In particular, the module aims at benchmarking best practices from the disciplines of strategy, management, and marketing, and transposing them to the field of action of the “new diplomat”. This reengineering of skills constitutes an invitation to challenge established organizational wisdom and to adopt new strategic and managerial orientation with respect to a variety of issues (e.g., planning, strategy formulation, internationalization, decision-making, human resource management, customer and stakeholder satisfaction, innovation, image persuasion, and knowledge management). » Professor Simonin

GMA D211: Foreign Policy Leadership: This module focuses on seven leaders who are known for major accomplishments in foreign policy: Elizabeth I, Napoleon, Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill, Mao Zedong, Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela. Each is examined within the context of the pressing international problems of her/ his time and in light of the political science and business literature on leadership. With varying myriad situations the faced at home and abroad, these leaders provide lessons and models for those who are interested in and aspire to leadership. »Senior Associate Dean Nutter

GMA D220: International Negotiation

This course explores the processes, rather than specific substantive issues, of international negotiation. Using exercises and simulations, it examines the nature of conflict in the international arena; the special characteristics of negotiation in the international setting; pre-negotiation and the problems of inducing parties to negotiate; negotiation dynamics; the roles of culture and power; and the strategy and tactics of international negotiation. International mediation, arbitration, special problems of multilateral negotiation, and the follow-up and implementation of negotiated agreements are also examined. »Professor Babbitt and Professor Chigas

GMA E220: International Trade Economics and Investment

This course investigates why nations trade, what they trade, and the distribution of gains from trade. Topics include trade and growth, technology, the product cycle, multinationals, international labor migration, tariffs, dumping, regional economic integration, and international competitiveness of firms and nations. Throughout the course there will be special emphasis on which policies affect which outcomes. »Professor Kowalczyk and Professor Blackhurst

International Finance

This course is divided into two modules:

GMA E230: International Macroeconomics: This International Macroeconomics module presents frameworks for understanding the performance of economies that are linked to the rest of the world through trade in assets as well as through trade in goods and services. After reviewing the cross-border aspects of national income accounting, this section will teach models of the short- and long-run determination of exchange rates, trade and current account balances, in addition to other macroeconomic variables. These models are then used to analyze general issues such as the choice of exchange-rate regime, open-economy fiscal and monetary policy, the performance of the international monetary system, optimum currency areas, as well as specific current topics.»Professor Krohn

GMA B200: Corporate Finance and Global Financial Markets: This International Finance module provides a conceptual and operational overview of corporate finance as it is practiced by financial managers and bankers in the private sector. Four major themes are explored: 1) financial planning and budgeting; 2) financing techniques including securitization and instruments as available from banks and capital markets; 3) Risk management and the use of financial derivatives and 4) valuation metrics used in selecting among projects, acquiring existing firms, or structuring large-scale project finance.»Professor Jacque

GMA L220: International Organizations

The theory and practice of international organizations (IOs) is a dynamic and increasingly important dimension of world politics. This course provides an introduction to the field, focusing on the interaction between international law and politics in international organizations. It begins by briefly exploring the role of international institutions from the perspective of international relations and international legal theory. We then proceed to an overview of the international legal order as embodied in the United Nations and regional organizations, with a special focus on the function of international organizations as makers and interpreters of the law. The bulk of the course is devoted to the substantive work of the UN and other organizations in three principal areas: peace and security, human rights and humanitarian affairs, and sustainable development. We conclude by stepping back to look at questions about the legitimacy of international organizations: who wields power within the organizations, how is that power wielded, to whom are those wielding power accountable and on what basis. »Professor Cerone (This course is offered in GMAP March)

GMA L240: International Business and Economic Law

This course provides an introduction to the legal context of international commerce. It examines the international legal system, and focuses on international trade law as a major component of the international legal system, with great relevance for international commerce. It examines selected issues within the international trade law system, including tariffs, discrimination, protectionism, health and environmental protection. It also examines selected issues of the regulation of international business, including the scope of jurisdiction, taxation and bribery. It examines contractual forms and legal constraints in private international commercial relations, including the formation of contracts, letters of credit, and international loan agreements. Finally, the course concludes with an examination of the application of some of these concepts to international internet-based commerce. »Professor Trachtman (This course is offered in GMAP July)

GMA P202: International Politics

International Politics considers contemporary political and economic developments in the context of their historical antecedents, and weighs divergent interpretations of influential ideas and political and economic developments. The course examines contradictory interpretations of these events and their significance; focuses on "big picture" visions of political-economic developments; and seeks to apprehend the historical, political, economic, and cultural factors behind them. Part I introduces each topic and is intended to raise questions and provoke discussion during the residency period. Part II delves into each topic in greater detail, sometimes by focusing on multi- or supra-national institutions, and sometimes by examining particular regions and countries that exemplify the trends and counter-trends discussed in Part I.

GMA P215, P216, & P217: Transnational Social Issues

GMA P215: Environment: In the past 25 years, global environment and resource policy has joined human rights and humanitarian and development issues at the forefront of international policy. Developing sound agreements requires an ability on the part of the diplomat, political leader, corporate decision-maker, or environmental practitioner to understand the scientific basis of the problem, the economic costs of addressing or not addressing it, and the technological and political possibilities for proposed solutions. In this module students will examine a diverse suite of environmental issues ranging from ocean fisheries to forest conservation, all the while examining each issue through the lens of climate change. The module will explore how environmental challenges arise to become part of the international agenda, how environmental treaties are negotiated, and how their implementation takes place in industrial and developing countries.»Professor Moomaw

GMA 216: Humanitarian Aid:This module will put complex emergencies and humanitarian crises within a global perspective, focusing on key institutional actors in the field of humanitarian aid. The module will analyze the political, economic, and ethical issues raised by humanitarian interventions in war situations and explore the tools available to ad agencies to program in crisis situations. Building primarily on experiences in Africa and Asia, the module explores linkages between relief and development as well as looking at the possible long term future of the international humanitarian aid system. »Professor Walker (This course is offered in GMAP July)

GMA 217: Human Security: This course explores issues of vulnerability and livelihoods and the interventions that NGOs and governments use to reduce risk and promote security and well being. We focus on both stable and unstable environments and complex situations where both conflict and poverty are present. The module investigates the principle humanitarian and development frameworks for understanding problems and aid interventions, both successful and failed, designed to mitigate those problems. »Kim Wilson (This course is offered in GMAP March)

GMA P240: Security Studies

Security Studies examines current issues in international security and the United States national security policy. It aims to provide an intellectual foundation and the tools needed to analyze contemporary security issues. The section reviews some of the key theories and concepts that form the basis of security studies as a distinct area of study in international relations. It examines debates about national security doctrine, military transformation, and conventional force structure. This module will analyze the causes of terrorism and other asymmetric threats; the prospects for conflict across the Taiwan Straits; nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) proliferation; third party intervention in ethnic conflicts; the problem of "nation building;" and the security implications of epidemic disease, border controls, and demographic trends. »Professor Taliaferro (This course is offered in GMAP March)

GMA P240: Security Studies

This course considers crisis management in theory and practice, drawing from the period since World War II. Theories of crisis prevention, escalation, management, de-escalation, termination, and post-crisis management; alternative decision-making theories, structures, and processes; the nature of crisis bargaining and negotiation; and the role of third parties. Special attention will be paid to the role of military force in post-Cold War crisis scenarios. »Professor Pfaltzgraff and Professor Shultz (This course is offered in GMAP July)

Master's Thesis

GMAP students choose the thesis on a topic covered during the program. During the midyear residency, participants discuss requirements and topics and a master’s thesis instructor works with students throughout the year to answer questions and facilitate the preparation process. At the third residency, students defend the thesis (25-40 pages long) before two faculty as well as members of their team.